How we drove to communism in rented cars

Against the background of many strange and contradictory initiatives of the Khrushchev era, the creation of car rental stations looked like a completely logical solution to the problem of car shortages. Khrushchev considered rental to be such an important matter that a provision about it was included in the CPSU Program. However, instead of solving the problem, many new problems arose.

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Getting rentals of even an old and regularly breaking down Pobeda required truly heroic efforts

Photo: D. Baltermants/Photo archive of the magazine "Ogonyok" / D. Baltermants/Photo archive of the magazine

Rental cars constantly required, but did not always receive, proper repairs and maintenance

Photo: Yu. Krivonosov/Photo archive of the magazine "Ogonyok" / Yu. Krivonosov/Photo archive of the magazine

Evgeny Zhirnov

"Due to significant demand"

As archival documents testify, an acute shortage of passenger cars arose in the very first days of the existence of Soviet power (see “A special purpose car stable” , “Kommersant-Vlast”, N41, 42, 2002). Soon after receiving appointments to high positions, new leaders began to urgently ask for a car, which was extremely necessary for their difficult work.

The situation did not change much after mass production of cars began in the country, and an unspoken automobile table of ranks appeared in the party and Soviet apparatus (see “ Chlenovoz is still there ,” Kommersant-Vlast, N10, 2003). And not only because there were many who wanted to get a more prestigious car. The apparatus grew from year to year, and planning, supply and distribution authorities were inundated with requests for more and more new means of transportation for responsible comrades.

At the same time, in Moscow, thousands of personal cars stood idle from morning to evening near ministries and departments or served the families of leaders - they took their wives out of town and for shopping, which is why real traffic jams began to arise in the center of the capital in the 1950s. And in 1956, the issue of introducing one-way traffic along the Garden Ring was even considered.

In those same years, the demand for cars also increased sharply among private individuals (see “ No more than 625 Pobeda cars are sold per month,” Kommersant-History, N14, 2013). On May 21, 1954, the Main Police Department reported to the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs S.N. Kruglov:

“Due to the significant demand for passenger cars, as well as for M-72 motorcycles (with sidecars), in specialized stores of Glavkulttorg there are constantly huge queues of people wishing to purchase cars. Thus, in the Moscow specialized store there is a queue of people waiting to buy Pobeda cars on May 15 s. reached 13,000 people, despite the fact that on average no more than 625 Pobeda cars are sold per month.”

First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev found a quick and seemingly effective solution to the problem of the shortage of passenger cars. On April 3, 1956, Resolution N431 of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted on streamlining the use of cars, which provided for a sharp, 50%, reduction in the fleet of passenger cars in ministries, departments and central institutions located in Moscow and in their subordinate enterprises and organizations. The subsequent decisions of the councils of ministers of the Union republics spelled out in detail who should keep personal cars and what to do with the released cars.

The resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, for example, stated:

"To oblige the ministries and departments of the RSFSR, regional executive committees, regional executive committees, Councils of Ministers of autonomous republics and city executive committees of cities of republican (RSFSR) subordination to hand over released passenger cars of enterprises, institutions and organizations in good condition to rural district executive committees that do not have cars for official purposes, as well as to automobile trusts and the automobile departments of the Ministry of Automobile Transport and Highways of the RSFSR to replenish the taxi fleet, and transfer the remaining cars to the Ministry of Trade of the RSFSR for sale to the public."

But not all of the released cars were intended for the population:

“Allow ministries and departments of the RSFSR, regional, regional executive committees, Councils of Ministers of autonomous republics and city executive committees of cities of republican (RSFSR) subordination to sell released passenger cars to employees who previously used personal cars with payment of their cost in installments of up to one year.”

In addition, for Moscow responsible comrades who did not have the right to buy a car, but were accustomed to transporting their families on official transport, a car rental station was opened in the capital in July 1956, where one could rent a car for an hour, a day or a month.

"The resolution has been reduced to almost zero"

As long as the rental cars were used by a limited circle of insiders, neither the station employees nor the car rental users had any particular problems. The car could be picked up at the station itself at the car depot N12 near the Kievsky railway station, where a comfortable waiting room was equipped for the comrades who arrived to pick up the car. Or you could order it with delivery to pick-up points throughout Moscow. There were few cars at the station - only 29, but for 724 users this number was quite enough. All that was required from the client was to show a driver’s license, undergo training - the “technical minimum” on driving and servicing the car and pay the bill.

However, nothing good can last forever. In 1958, a group of pensioners sent a letter to Khrushchev saying:

“The good Resolution of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1956 on the elimination of excesses in the use of passenger vehicles revealed the possibility of significant cost savings, but, unfortunately, only an opportunity, since in 1958 this Resolution was reduced to almost zero.

Lately, the promiscuity in the use of passenger cars has once again assumed very large proportions. They say that the leading and “near-leading” comrades have now moved from the old “Victory” vehicles into new comfortable “Volga” cars, and the rest has remained unchanged.

The entire Nogin Square, the courtyards of the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR, the courtyards of the Ministry of Trade and other institutions on the street. Razin and on the street. Kirov, ObSovnarkhoz (Miusskaya Square), City Council of National Economy (Kuznetsky Most) are filled with cars all day long, most of which are assigned to individuals. Each car is served by 2 drivers with an average rate of 700-900 rubles.

Thousands of cars are still driving housewives - wives and housekeepers with children, workers at dachas, creating serious difficulties in the movement of vehicles on the streets of Moscow and highways near Moscow, both in the morning and during the day."

The commission of the CPSU Central Committee, created without delay, on March 21, 1959, submitted its proposals on tightening the procedure for the use of passenger cars for consideration by the Presidium of the Central Committee. In particular, it was proposed to leave personal cars to leaders of no lower rank than Union Minister and Secretary of the Republican Central Committee. Among other important tasks was the expansion of car rental. And the resulting new resolution of the party and government prescribed:

“To organize self-supporting depots (garages) of passenger cars in large cities in public motor transport facilities to provide them to the population on a rental basis (without drivers), to equip these rental depots with passenger cars, including GAZ-69 cars, and to approve the procedure and conditions provision of passenger cars for hire."

The press and personally the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee began to promote car rental. In September 1959, during a visit to the United States, Khrushchev saw with his own eyes the operating rental system and, upon arrival at his homeland in Vladivostok, stated:

“We will use passenger cars more rationally than the Americans do: we will increasingly develop shared taxi fleets, from which people will take cars for the necessary trips. Why should a person rack his brains about where to park a car, why should he bother with it. Such an order will better satisfy people’s needs and meet the interests of both society as a whole and each citizen individually.”

In 1960, during a trip to France, speaking at the Chausson plant, Khrushchev said that rental cars in the USSR would supplant private ownership of cars:

“The development of passenger automobile transport will go in the following direction: we will increase the production of passenger cars, while creating a wide network of rental garages. Whether such garages will be state-owned or trade union, or will belong to other public organizations, I cannot say now. .. With this procedure for using passenger cars, we will obviously need 10 or 15 times fewer cars than if we tried to provide everyone with a personal car... Therefore, we consider it unreasonable to have too many passenger cars. The privately owned capitalist direction of using passenger cars for. does not suit us. We will introduce a socialist method in serving the population."

And in order to give this project the character of a law, the provision on rental in the same 1960 was included in the draft Program of the CPSU - the program for building communism by 1980.

As a result, the creation of rental bases began in all major cities, as a rule, at taxi companies. But the clients who applied there very soon realized that Khrushchev’s loud words had nothing to do with reality.

"The financial plan is not being implemented"

In the same 1960, reporters discovered the following picture at a Moscow rental station that was exemplary in the recent past: “Early in the morning of a summer Saturday, we drove up to the gates of the rental point of the 12th motor depot, located at the Kievsky railway station of the capital. In line in front of the poster “For today, cars on rentals are all issued" there were about thirty people standing. Their tired, rumpled appearance, gloomy, unshaven faces indicated that these station subscribers had to spend a sleepless night. And so it turned out. Excitedly, interrupting each other, the motorists began a sad story about how “They signed up for the queue on Friday, and were on duty day and night, “checking in” every three hours, hoping to get a car for Sunday trips. And in the morning... In the morning, only nine cars left the station gates.”

The situation was even worse when ordering a car by phone. Orders were accepted from nine in the morning. But at exactly nine the dispatcher answered that all the cars had already been ordered. And it was no secret to anyone that luck favors those who make acquaintances at the rental office. Therefore, car rental users created public control groups at the points, which, however, did not bring any tangible benefit. After all, 450 cars were issued to clients in Moscow per day. And the total number of regular rental users by the summer of 1960 exceeded 18 thousand. On top of that, rental shops were given cars with high mileage, in which almost everything was faulty. So, before leaving the bases, the “lucky ones” spent hours repairing damage that was immediately discovered. But most often the car then broke down on the way.

To reduce the catastrophic excess of demand over supply, various techniques were used. A feature of Soviet rental cars was that cars were not issued to nonresident drivers. In addition, only a registered subscriber could receive the car. But various obstacles lined up on the way to registration. In Tashkent, for example, in order to obtain a subscription book, it was necessary to submit, in addition to a passport with local registration and a driver’s license, an application from the place of work, a job description, a certificate from the house management and other documents. So many decided to do without long trips to the party committee, trade union committee and administration and forget about the rental car. However, the most effective solution was found in Estonia. There, the subscriber paid not only for the correction of all defects discovered after the return of the car, but also - according to the rental rate - for the time during which the repairs took place. Therefore, in Estonia the number of subscribers per rental car was one and a half times less than in Moscow.

The private capitalist direction of using passenger cars is not suitable for us

But nationwide, supply still did not keep up with demand. By the end of 1960, there were 978 rental cars in Moscow, but the number of subscribers had grown to 25 thousand, who tried to solve the problem in a purely Soviet way. They united into a public organization and elected a city council of rental subscribers, which organized a conference in the summer of 1961, which was attended by the heads of the taxi transport department, the traffic police and other responsible persons related to car rental. But the event turned into an irreconcilable dispute, where subscribers accused rental companies of poor work and poor-quality repairs. And they, in turn, scolded their opponents for their inability to drive, which is why their cars quickly wear out. Subscribers calmed down only after they were told about grandiose rental expansion plans, according to which in 1965, 14 thousand rental cars, two large repair bases were to appear in Moscow, and old cars would begin to be written off after 100-120 thousand kilometers.

No one mentioned that there are no cars or funds for these projects. And that in reality there is no progress for the better and there will not be. In 1962, the head of the taxi transport department of Glavmosavtotrans, I. Starshinov, complained in the press that only old cars were available for rental, and it was impossible to write off completely “killed” ones under the current regulations. The head of the Leningrad car rental station, M. Moroz, wrote even more frankly at the end of 1963:

“Particularly alarming is the fact that the entire rental station and its repair area are located on the territory of the taxi fleet. This leads to organizational confusion, lack of control, and a decrease in responsibility for the safety of cars and property, as a result of which there are frequent cases of disassembly of various parts, parts and assemblies. We experience great difficulties with car repairs. The current and emergency repairs carried out by the taxi fleet cannot satisfy us... The lack of a sufficient number of spare parts and the poor quality of repairs lead to the fact that the readiness ratio of the rental car fleet remains extremely low, financially. the plan is not being fulfilled. Only the low availability of cars in the summer can explain the fact that the Leningrad rental station in 1961 fulfilled the annual revenue plan by a little more than 50 percent, and in 1962 - by 81.3 percent."

Unprofitable enterprises were not even provided with worn-out cars, and the Soviet car rental company soon ordered its subscribers to live long. Even before Khrushchev was forced to retire, the press stopped writing about car rental. And the citizens forgot about the socialist method of motorization, with the help of which the country was supposed to enter communism, and the country’s leadership preferred not to remember.

"We will need 10 or 15 times fewer cars"